Can you curve a bullet? I dont see wht it wouldnt be possible. you can do it with a baseball, golf and tennis so physically it mames sense. But considering the bullet is traveling at a high rate of speed, is it possible?

To a degree you are when you shoot with a lead on a moving target. That would be the only way I know you are. You are talking about a curve left of right? That don't include wind drift.

"WAR IS A RACKET, I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street, and for the Bankers." Major-General Smedley Darlington Butler USMC Ret. 2 time Medal of Honor winner.

even in a curved barrel, the bullet is still travelling straight relative to its own position. Any curve in a bullet's path that may possibly be acheived is going to be so slight at handgun ranges that you wouldn't notice. I suppose if you held a gun sideways and fired it, the drop could be considered a curve, but that's more of a philosophical question. hell, I have no idea what I'm talking about. I'm not even sure who I am today. Forget I said anything...I hate myself.

"I have always been a soldier. I have known no other life. The calling of arms, I have followed from boyhood. I have never sought another." From The Virtues of War, by Steven Pressfield.

It's a simple physics problem, God can do it why can't we? alright that was bad... moving on...

Okay seriously think about it like this the Earth pulls a bullet down with gravity right? That is a force acting down on the bullet, so you would need a force acting on the side to do it.

I doubt it's possible to do like in Wanted

but think of the wind effecting a bullet, if rifle is sighted in on a calm day it shoots straight, but take that same shot the wind speed makes the bullet end up a mil to the right or left. The bullet leaves the rifle the same way like on the calm day but is off target. Technically the trajectory is curved.

To curve is possible in theory, but you'd need a force greater than gravity to have a major effect like in Wanted, and thats not coming from the wind or a human hand. Maybe a high powered electromagnet or a faulty rail gun? ha ha

i was shooting qualification at the range in the army once, it was a hot day, bout 103 degrees or so with little to no wind, and while engaging targets at 300m i actually had to aim below the target because the heat rising from the field was pushing the little .223 bullet up.

We're not going to just shoot the sons-of-bitches, we're going to rip out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. Gen. George S. Patton

At 1,000 yards, a high wind can push a bullet left or right over 100 inches, so yes, it is technically possible to curve a bullet, but not nearly so dramatically and at such close ranges as is portrayed in that movie. And speaking of that movie, Does anyone else think Angelina Jolie is a ridiculous pick for action movie chick? Got it, she's effing hot and I would love to do her after beating her up like in Mr and Mrs Smith, but she seems a bit dainty to me. No, I don't want to see Rosie O'Donnel in a Tomb Raider movie, but what heppened to people like Sigourny Weaver (sp) in the Alien franchise or Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight? Those are more like it. Oh well.

"I have always been a soldier. I have known no other life. The calling of arms, I have followed from boyhood. I have never sought another." From The Virtues of War, by Steven Pressfield.

Won't the wind just cause the bullet to drift off target. To me a curve is a left or right drift with the projectile coming back on course to hit a target that is dead in line with the barrell. Is it not a curve to lob a bullet high for it to come down trajectory to hit the target?

When firing at a distance and lobbing a round on target, the target is not directly in line with the barrel. The target is directly in line with the sight, the barrel is angled up. A great demonstration of this is if you can find the picture of GySgt Carlos Hathcock's M2 .50 set up on the 2500 yd target he made his famous kill with. The scope on the mount is straight, looking at the distant range marker, but the barrel is shown with an obvious upward angle. Wind drift is the same. based on training, math, and detailed logs, long distance shooters actually aim upwind a set amount and allow the wind to drift their bullet into the target.

"I have always been a soldier. I have known no other life. The calling of arms, I have followed from boyhood. I have never sought another." From The Virtues of War, by Steven Pressfield.

A bullet fired at long range or short range can not be curved or bent by the shooter after it's fired. The bullet leaves the barrel from the line of bore, not the line of sight. The shooter determines at what distances the bullet's path crosses the line of sight. For a bullet to curve, bend, or yaw in flight before it hits it's intended impact point, that is left to other forces of power like wind, and most of all GOD. The person that pulled the trigger has no more control over the bullet after it exits the barrel because his firing solution has already be put into action. If technology allowed something like a heat seeking or programmable bullet that was capable of self flight control correction, a curve or bend in the bullets flight might then be possible. That would be fun as hell to shoot too wouldn't it? Na! that'd just make it easier for me to shoot myself in the ass with.

I will not be wronged and I will not have hands laid up on me. John Wayne in the Shootest.
Your a Daisy if you do. Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday.

I don't think you can curve a bullet either. However, thinking about physics questions I had in college, if the shooter was moving laterally, while he/she shot the bullet, the the bullet, therefore should continue in the same lateral direction that it was being moved while still in your gun. However you'd have to be moving pretty fast to notice how much it moved laterally given how fast the bullet travels out of the barrell. That's not really "curving" a bullet, but it's moving laterally in relation to the ground. It's like if you were standing on a train that was moving at 20mph and you threw a base ball out in the same direction of the train at 10mph, then the ball would be going 30mph in relation to the ground, but would be going only 10mph in relation to the train. Same concept, if you throw it out perpendicular to the train, in relation to the ground the ball is going 10mph perpendicular to the train, but still going 20mph parrallel to the train. ....I think I just confused myself. Sorry.

I think you could make a bullet curve if you added drag on a particular location of the bullet. The curve would be indexed as it exits the barrel. If you know the barrel twist you could mathematically predict the angle
of departure if you start the projectile at the pre-determined angle. Adjusting the angle would be relative to weight and speed of the bullet. Then u put up w/the other influences, wind, density of the altitude, battery in ur theodolite went dead, etc. But why do that when u could move ur location. I do like the "grazing" concept though. Those little buggars would start to hitch-up when the stuff falls out the sky. There is a phenomena where the bullets look like they are hitting the target (or not)from an angle. When firing from a helicopter you regularly see the wave of tracers moving more sideways as the horizontal angle to the target becomes more pronounced. You knew u were good if u could stay on the doorway for about 70 degrees. Nobody makes that grade unless ur hovering. Enough, this stuff makes me gag.

You can't curve a bullet from a firearm.The bullet spins straight out of the barrel.A baseball pitcher can change the spin of a ball with his wrist,which can rotate the ball a number of ways depending on his finger location,the barrel of a gun can not.Although,with a small enough bullet,a long distance shot,and a hell of a wind the bullet could be fired say right of the target then drift back to the left.But this is caused by the wind and a rather long shot.So a bullet can curve but unlike a pitcher,not just anytime you wanted it to.Unless you are an assasin in the movie Wanted.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"

Deface the crown on that barrel and see how the bullet flies. The cast of the barrel and its vibrations, swollen stock pressing against barrel, bullet becoming skived as it travels through the barrel,or the barrel heats up. All of these will change axis of the projectile both in and as it leaves the barrel. These cannot be exactly predetermined but they are there. This is without looking at all of the ingredients of the cartridge and the bullet. If the lead in that bullet is cast on one side, send it and "hear it". And my favorite is wrapping the barrel with my ladies jacket because she's cold.
Someone had to have done a thesis on this crap. Probably to be a Ch info Off.